{"id":32537,"date":"2025-12-18T15:19:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T15:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=32537"},"modified":"2025-12-18T15:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T15:19:32","slug":"eu-health-commissioner-doubles-down-on-tobacco-harm-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/eu-health-commissioner-doubles-down-on-tobacco-harm-stance\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Health Commissioner doubles down on tobacco-harm stance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EU Health Commissioner Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi has declared that new nicotine products such as vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches are \u201cone hundred per cent\u201d as harmful as traditional cigarettes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner rejects harm reduction distinction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with Euractiv, V\u00e1rhelyi was asked whether he is convinced that new products such as vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches are as harmful as traditional cigarettes. He replied: \u201cYes, I am. Absolutely. One hundred per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commissioner pointed to data showing a sharp rise in vaping among people aged 15 and over in the EU – up 45 per cent to four per cent in 2024 – and said that when it comes to younger people, \u201cthey are even worse\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V\u00e1rhelyi also confirmed that the Commission is preparing a broader assessment of alternative tobacco products\u2019 health effects, due to be published in 2026, drawing together multiple studies with the World Health Organisation playing a central role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the key policy directions – also for me personally – is the work of the WHO, because the WHO has been extremely solid and very consistent in its work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to criticism from the tobacco industry over the direction of policy, V\u00e1rhelyi added: \u201cIf there is one thing I know about the tobacco industry, it is that they are very difficult to please – because the direction of policy is not going their way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harm reduction debate<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The handling of alternative nicotine products in EU policy remains deeply contested, particularly over whether all products carry the same level of health risk. While the Commission points to rising youth use and cardiovascular data, harm reduction specialists argue that decades of evidence show the primary driver of smoking-related disease is the combustion of tobacco rather than nicotine itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They point to assessments by regulators and health bodies in several countries which conclude that non-combustible products expose users to substantially lower levels of toxicants<\/a> than cigarettes, and that switching away from smoking can reduce health risks for people who would otherwise continue to smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence from Sweden<\/a> is frequently cited in this debate. Despite similar levels of nicotine use to other EU countries, Sweden reports the lowest tobacco-related mortality rate in the EU, a trend widely linked to the widespread use of smoke-free products such as snus and nicotine pouches rather than cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier controversy over nicotine claims<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The interview follows earlier controversy over V\u00e1rhelyi\u2019s public statements on nicotine. In September<\/a>, he deleted and edited a post on X after initially claiming that \u201cnicotine.. causes cancer\u201d – a statement at odds with the European Commission\u2019s own scientific assessments and the position of bodies such as Cancer Research UK, which state that nicotine is not a carcinogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the post was later amended to say nicotine \u201ccontributes to cancer development\u201d, harm reduction advocates and scientists said the correction still misrepresented the evidence, noting that cancer risk is driven primarily by toxic substances released through the combustion of tobacco rather than nicotine itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policy focus vs past allegations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

More broadly, some observers argue that the intensity of scrutiny on V\u00e1rhelyi\u2019s health positions contrasts with limited questioning on other controversies linked to his career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include long-standing allegations<\/a> related to his time as Hungary\u2019s ambassador to the EU, when he was accused by commentators and diplomatic sources of running a spy ring out of the Hungarian Embassy in Brussels – claims that have never been substantiated in an official inquiry and have been denied by Hungarian authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics say the absence of such questioning in high-profile interviews raises concerns about selective scrutiny, with tobacco policy generating headlines while other allegations receive comparatively little attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU Health Commissioner Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi has declared that new nicotine products such as vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches are \u201cone hundred per cent\u201d as harmful as traditional cigarettes. Commissioner rejects harm reduction distinction In an interview with Euractiv, V\u00e1rhelyi was asked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":32538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[337,367,186,333],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-32537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-hungary","tag-interviews","tag-nicotine","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32545,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537\/revisions\/32545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32537"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=32537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}